Aung San Suu Kyi to be Honored with 2012 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award

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WASHINGTON —Aung San Suu Kyi will receive the 2012 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, Jane Harman, president and director of the Wilson Center, announced today. Suu Kyi, will be honored with the prestigious award at a symposium in Yangon, co-hosted by the Wilson Center’s Global Women’s Leadership Initiative on January 15-16, 2013.
“Aung San SuuKyi’s lifelong dedication to the cause of democracy and the Burmese people makes her the perfect recipient of this year’s Ion Ratiu Democracy Award,” said Harman. “Daw Suu is a world icon who has shown that grace and non-violence are the most powerful weapons against oppression.”
Following 15 years of house arrest as a political prisoner of the junta at the forefront of the democracy movement in Burma, Suu Kyi now heads Myanmar’s main opposition party, the National League of Democracy. She is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the recipient of the United States Congressional Gold Medal. Suu Kyi will receive the Ion Ratiu Award during a two-day symposium in Yangon, Myanmar titled“Women Leading Democracy Building in Myanmar: Shaping Global and Local Strategies.” This will be the first time a Ratiu Award nominee will be honored in her home country at a program that advances her cause among the people whose rights she defended and fought for. 
The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award brings visibility and international recog­nition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. The award expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide. Ion Ratiu (1917-2000) was the most outspoken and consistent voice of opposition to Nicolae Ceausescu, whose regime he opposed for years from London as the democratically elected leader of The World Union of Free Romanians. The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award is funded by The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation and The Ratiu Center for Democracy.
The Global Women’s Leadership Initiative’s (GWLI) global network is the platform for both the Council of Women World Leaders, located at The Wilson Center since November 2011, and the Women in Public Service Project, launched by Secretary Hillary Clinton in partnership with the historic Seven Sisters women’s colleges, which moved to the Wilson Center in June 2012. The GWLI is a unique platform for change – connecting current and emerging women leaders, promoting the goal of 50 percent women in public service jobs worldwide, advancing inclusive policies, and bringing new research to the forefront.
 
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Jason Mraz headlines anti-human trafficking concert in Myanmar

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Singer JASON MRAZ helped to raise awareness about human trafficking on Sunday (16Dec12) by performing at a special MTV charity concert in Myanmar.

The I'm Yours star joined forces with MTV bosses, government aid agencies in the U.S. and Australia and officials at anti-slavery organization Walk Free to stage a special gig at the base of the Shwedagon Pagoda hilltop in the city of Yangon to draw attention to the international slave trade.

An estimated 50,000 fans flocked to see the show, who was the first international musician to play in the former Burma in decades, following the end of military rule in the Southeast Asian country last year (11).

He was joined on the bill by a slew of local artists, and the singer was humbled to be performing on such a huge stage.

Taking to his Twitter.com blog before touching down in Myanmar, he wrote, "En route to #LiveInMyanmar, honored to be an ambassador of awareness; exposing modern day slavery, transforming & saving lives".

The event occurred just four days after Mraz was saluted for his humanitarian efforts by the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Foundation.

He was presented with the Champion Award at the organization's 17th Annual Awards Ceremony in New York on Wednesday (12Dec12), but didn't stick around to celebrate his prize and instead headed off to Myanmar.

He follows in the footsteps of previous recipients Billy Joel, John Mellencamp and Tony Bennett.
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Myanmar 'sorry' for monk beatings

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YANGON: Myanmar's government formally apologised on Saturday to the country's Buddhist monks for its recent crackdown on protesters at a copper mine that injured more than 100 of their monastic colleagues.

The apology in response to public demonstrations was a fresh sign that the new reform-minded government is responsive to public opinion, a departure from the repressive military regimes that ruled for decades.  

President's Office Minister Hla Tun led other officials in apologising to senior and injured monks in the central city of Mandalay.

The monks had been holding protests to demand an apology for the violence, with hundreds marching peacefully this past Wednesday in Yangon and Mandalay, the country's two biggest cities, along with Monywa, the town closest to the mine, and at least six other towns.

Police used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs on Nov 29 to break up an 11-day occupation of the Letpadaung mine project in northwestern Myanmar, a joint venture between a military-owned holding company and a Chinese company. Protesters want the project halted, saying it is causing environmental, social and health problems.

Shin Wirathu, one of the monks leading the protests, said Saturday's action satisfied their demands for a formal apology. The monks had rejected previous apologies by officials as inadequate and directed at the wrong people. Officials in attendance Saturday included Health Minister Pe Thet Khin, Police Chief Kyaw Kyaw Tun and Sagaing Region Chief minister Thar Aye.

"We are now satisfied as they made the apology publicly and legally,'' said Shin Wirathu "And it's pleasing that the ones who had the main responsibility for the crackdown apologised to the injured monks. We acknowledge it as a historic day but it's a matter of forgive, not forget.''

He added that the officials also promised not to let anything like the crackdown happen again.

According to Shin Wirathu, 34 injured monks and 3 lay people are still at hospitals in Mandalay, and one person was sent to Thailand for medical treatment.

Most of those hurt suffered burns that protesters said were caused by incendiary devices hurled by police.

The crackdown was reminiscent of those the country faced under military rule, which formally ended when an elected government took power last year. It stirred particular anger because of the violence against monks, who are held in high regard in this reverent Buddhist country.

The heavy-handed action indicated the government is still unsure where to draw the line on public protests, even though elected President Thein Sein's government has been hailed for releasing hundreds of political prisoners and for implementing laws allowing public demonstrations and labour strikes.

BANGKOK POST
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Copper mine strikes raise questions in Myanmar

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Copper mine strikes raise questions in Myanmar

Copper mine strikes have raised questions about China's 'soft power' in Myanmar. The government's response has raised questions about Myanmar's move toward democracy.


A man holds a banner during a protest in Yangon on December 2, 2012 against a Chinese-backed copper mine in Monywa in northern Myanmar. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)
YANGON, Myanmar – A stream of protesters, many of them Buddhist monks clad in maroon robes, trickled through the capital Monday as part of what observers here say is a growing movement against the government’s brutal crackdown on strikers at a Chinese-backed copper mining project in the northwest.

About 100 protesters carried placards and chanted a phrase that has become their slogan: “Violence is not the solution.” 

Opposition leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has lent her support to the movement, visiting the strikers at the Lapadaungtaung copper mining project. The project is a joint venture by the military-backed Union of Myanmar Economics Holdings Limited (UMEHL) and a Chinese company called Myanmar Wanboa Mining Copper Limited.

Suu Kyi was elected to parliament earlier this year in elections that were widely seen as a move toward democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma. She heads a parliamentary commission that is investigating the government’s alleged use of excessive force on the strikers at the mine in a series of clashes that began in late November.

“The commission will not shirk its responsibilities and it will hold people accountable,” Suu Kyi told reporters this week.

The labor unrest in the copper mining town is the latest example of how China’s attempts at ‘soft power’ — using economic influence to achieve its goals — rather than the ‘hard power’ of military strength, is increasingly being met with popular resistance in Burma.

More from GlobalPost: Myanmar: Police crack down on copper mine protesters

Many people here and a growing number of their representatives in parliament say that China is going too far in exploiting Burma’s abundant natural resources. Via a new network of pipelines, China has siphoned vast mineral wealth and energy in the form of hydropower from dams and petroleum.

China’s aggressive business interests and how they impact Burma was chronicled last month in a GlobalPost Special Report titled, “The Burma Road: China and soft power in a new Myanmar.”

“China itself cannot do what it wants to do … Doing what one wants to do without a compromise is not democratic. Myanmar needs to try promoting democracy.” Suu Khi said.

“We must bravely put forward the truth,” she said, explaining that the findings of the commission will first be submitted to President Thein Sein who called for the body to be formed on December 1 in the wake of the violence.

On November 29, police clad in riot gear raided a protest camp outside the mining project and seriously injured 74 people, including dozens of monks, by beating them with truncheons and allegedly spraying them with a caustic liquid that has left many of the injured monks with skin burns. Several of the most seriously burned were being taken to a hospital in Thailand for treatment.

The crackdown has produced condemnation of the government from the international community and sparked a wave of small, but persistent, protests across the country in recent weeks.

Those public demonstrations have prompted a round of arrests of activists. Police officials have maintained that the demonstrations are being held without proper permits. The rising tension comes just three weeks after President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a historic visit to Burma, a diplomatic initiative that was widely viewed as a new spirit of engagement between the US and Burma.

But the strikes at the copper mine raise issues of labor rights violations and of China’s aggressive presence in Burma. This has left some observers wondering whether the government of Myanmar, which speaks of a new era of democracy and of opening to the Western world, is staying true to its word.

Kyaw Zwa Moe, an outspoken critic of the government and editor of the English language edition of the independent Irrawadday newspaper, wrote in a recent column:

“The government continues to use the threat of arbitrary arrest to intimidate dissidents. Until this is no longer the norm in Myanmar, it will be meaningless to speak of Myanmar as a democratic or even democratizing nation.”

But even as Zwa Moe was writing this strident criticism, the government was for the first time in a long time allowing his opposition newspaper, which is based in Bangkok, to publish inside Burma.

The irony that was not lost on at least one political observer here who said, “We keep taking steps forwards and then steps backwards, but the question everybody is still watching for is whether we are moving forward? It’s going to take more time to know.”
 
source: globalpost
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Myanmar makes new mine protest arrests

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Myanmar Buddhist monks stage a protest demanding further apologies over injuries …
 
Myanmar authorities said Friday they had made a fresh round of arrests in response to a spate of protests demanding an apology for last month's police crackdown on a rally at a Chinese-backed copper mine.
Demonstrations have been held across the country also known as Burma in a continuing show of public anger at injuries, including severe burns, sustained by dozens of monks in a pre-dawn raid on protest camps at the mine.
"Some activists were arrested for questioning," a police official told AFP, asking not to be named. He said they were picked up in the second-biggest city Mandalay for protesting without permission.
Activist organisation the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, which took part in street action this week, said eight people were arrested late Thursday.
Four are still in custody after refusing bail on financial grounds, said the group's Moe Htet Myay.
"They said that they didn't commit any crime. We are monitoring the situation," he told AFP.
Hundreds of monks, supported by activists, staged demonstrations across Myanmar Wednesday to denounce the mine crackdown, which was the toughest action against demonstrators since a reformist government came to power last year.
The wife of Thein Aung Myint, one of the arrested protesters, said her husband was taken from their home in the evening and had not returned.
"I think he was taken because of his involvement in the monk-led protest on December 12," said Khet Khet Tin.
Last week Religious Affairs Minister Myint Maung apologised to some of the country's most senior clerics for injuries to about 99 monks, state media said.
About 100 police also apologised to a group of monks in Monywa soon after the crackdown. But the moves have failed to quell public discontent.
Photographs of the protesters' injuries have stirred an outcry and acted as a reminder of brutal junta-era security tactics, including the notorious crackdown on mass monk-led rallies in 2007 known as the "Saffron Revolution".
The dispute at the Monywa mine centres on allegations of mass evictions and environmental damage caused by the project -- a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings.
China insists that the contentious points have already been resolved.
Eight people arrested in connection with earlier protests against the mine in recent weeks were released on bail on Tuesday.

AFP
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Monks protest across Myanmar to demand formal apology for violent crackdown on mine protesters

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     By Associated Press, Published: December 12
YANGON, Myanmar — Buddhist monks across Myanmar have peacefully demonstrated to demand a formal apology from the government for its recent crackdown on protesters at a copper mine that injured more than 100 of their monastic colleagues.
Hundreds of monks in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s two biggest cities, along with Monywa, the town closest to the mine, and at least six other towns marched in protest Wednesday as security forces stood by without interfering.

Police used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs on Nov. 29 to break up an 11-day occupation of the Letpadaung mine project, a joint venture between a military-controlled holding company and a Chinese mining company. Protesters want the project halted, saying it is causing environmental, social and health problems.
 
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Exile media crafting new role from inside Myanmar

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This picture taken in August 2012 shows a newspaper vendor in Yangon. Their journalists risked jail terms to report inside Myanmar under years of brutal junta rule, but once-exiled media now operate openly -- and face flak for being too cosy with the new leaders.

YANGON (AFP)

Their journalists risked jail terms to report inside Myanmar under years of brutal junta rule, but once-exiled media now operate openly -- and face flak for being too cosy with the new leaders.
In a dramatic change of fortunes, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), the Irrawaddy website and Mizzima News agency have all set up offices in Yangon, lured back by the reforms their journalism helped engender.
And this week a free copy of The Irrawaddy magazine will hit newsstands in Myanmar's major cities for the first time since it was founded two decades ago.
It is a move that the organisation says will test the new quasi-civilian government's commitment to change in the country, as the former pariah state undergoes sweeping reforms.
"This is the first time we got permission from the government to distribute the magazine inside the country," Kyaw Zwa Moe, editor of The Irrawaddy's English edition, told AFP, adding that the publication would continue to be "quite critical".
The Irrawaddy and DVB have long operated from bases in northern Thailand as they tried to report on the secretive junta from exile overseas.
But now journalists -- among them former political prisoners -- are received by high officials in the government which replaced the disbanded junta in 2011.
"Before, I never slept well. I could be arrested... it could happen anytime," said Hla Hla Win, a DVB video reporter who spent two-and-a-half years of a 20-year sentence in jail before her sudden release in January along with other political prisoners.
"I've been surprised by the new administration, I never imagined they would allow such things... they are more soft dealing with journalists."
Under military rule the Oslo-based DVB was every day accused by the state-run press of spreading "killer broadcasts", along with the BBC and other foreign media.
But the news organisation, which boasts an audience of five million, recently opened a downtown office and although it did so under an assumed name and in a discreet apartment, its journalists no longer work in secret.
Myanmar has taken significant strides towards greater press freedom.
Censorship was abolished in August and pictures of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and US President Barack Obama adorn the front pages of magazines and journals which now dare to report on former no-go areas such as corruption.
Media groups, enticed to return by the new freedoms, now face the challenge of crafting an independent voice from inside the country without compromising reputations for courageous reporting they earned in exile.
Critics are already grumbling that they are diluting their once fearless journalism.
"I am disappointed to see that these 'transplanted' exiled media are practising too much self-censorship now," said Maung Maung Myint, of the Burma Media Association, which represents exiled journalists.
"In some cases, they have lost their impartiality... The government is definitely playing with them," he added.
Maung Maung Myint cited DVB-led seminars on public broadcasting for the Ministry of Information as an example of the group's warm relationship with the powers that be.
The DVB, which will probably close its office in Oslo but keep studios in Thailand, vigorously defends its editorial independence, arguing that by speaking to once-secretive ministers and army officials, its journalism has become more balanced and accurate.
"In the past, as in every closed society, most 'news' was rumour and it was very difficult to check the story or hear different voices," said DVB editor Aye Chan Naing. "That is not the case any longer."
But he recognised that talking to a government which once considered them "as enemies" -- so much so it arrested 17 DVB journalists -- could be seen as "controversial".
The Irrawaddy, in an effort to preserve its editorial independence, has also adopted a "one foot in, one foot out" strategy by maintaining its base in Thailand, according to its editor Aung Zaw.
"Our critical reporting style, approach to stories and editorial position have remained the same," he said, adding the outlet is "not mouthpiece of activists, opposition or the regime".
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is still far from meeting the criteria of a free press.
A Reporters Without Borders map pinned to a wall in DVB's office shows the country coloured in black, an ignominious distinction shared notably by North Korea and Iran.
Some journalists have been prosecuted for their stories, although none has been arrested recently.
Kyaw Zwa Moe said The Irrawaddy was "just testing the waters" with the one-off issue this week, both in terms of the appetite for the publication from readers and the political situation.
He said it was important to maintain the organisation's Thai office because "things can change".
"Things are not certain yet in Burma, especially the reform process."
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Burmese government apologises to injured monks

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Photo: Buddhist monks and supporters rallied in support of the monks who were injured in the mine riot (Reuters: Soe Zeya Tun)
 
Burma's state media says the government has apologised to senior Buddhist clerics over injuries sustained in a violent police crackdown on a rally at a Chinese-backed copper mine.
The religious affairs minister Myint Maung said the incident at the mine was a "great grief", he but stopped short of apologising for the crackdown itself.
The sit-in by farmers and activists outside the Monywa copper mine had already attracted nationwide interest as a test of Burma's political openness before the police moved in to disperse them.
The operation resulted in at least 99 monks and 11 others suffering wounds including severe burns.
At a ceremony with some of the country's top clerics, Mr Maung "begged the pardon of wounded monks and novices", blaming the "incompetency" of the authorities, according to a report in state newspaper New Light of Myanmar.
However he said the demonstration had a "political" element and that the government was treating the wounded with a "clear conscience".
The pre-dawn raid on protest camps at the mine last month was the toughest clampdown on demonstrators since a reformist government came to power last year.
Human rights groups condemned it as reminiscent of the methods used by Burma's former military rulers.
About 100 police apologised to a group of monks in Monywa soon after the crackdown, but the move failed to calm the public mood.
Around 150 people and 40 monks marched through Rangoon on Saturday to protest the Monywa violence, the latest in a string of street demonstrations in the country's commercial hub and in the second largest city Mandalay in recent days.
"The monks are denouncing the brutal crackdown," Ye Min Oo, an activist at the rally, said.
"Many monks welcome the officials' apologies. But they also want them to say sorry in person to the injured monks."
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been appointed by the government to lead a probe into the incident, as well as claims of evictions and pollution at the mine.
Earlier this week she said it was not yet clear what had caused the demonstrators' injuries, but suggested tear gas could be to blame.
The dispute at the Monywa mine centres on allegations of mass evictions and environmental damage caused by the project - a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings.
Activists are calling for work at the project to be suspended to allow impact studies to be carried out, but China insists that the contentious points have already been resolved.
Several people are being held without bail at Rangoon's infamous Insein prison over their involvement in other protests against the mine.
According to the New Light of Myanmar, Bhaddanta Kumarabhivamsa, one of the country's most senior monks, called upon all parties to ensure such incidents do not happen again "and try their utmost to behave themselves".

BBC/AAP
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Burmese president cancels Australian visit

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AP © Myanmar's president has cancelled plans to visit Australia next week due to domestic commitments.

Myanmar's (Burma) reformist president has cancelled plans to visit Australia next week.
Thein Sein was due to visit Canberra and Sydney at the federal government's invitation next Monday and Tuesday.
But a spokesman for Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday said the former military general turned civilian ruler had decided to postpone the trip.
"The Australian government was advised late yesterday that the president would be postponing his visit to Australia owing to domestic commitments," he said.
"We very much look forward to welcoming the president to Australia at a mutually convenient time in 2013."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/15571929/

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Myanmar mine protesters denied release on bail

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YANGON, Myanmar—Demonstrators who protested peacefully against a mining project in northwestern Myanmar have been charged under a law that denies them release on bail.
Aung Thein, the lawyer for two of six activists arrested last week in Yangon, said Tuesday they were charged for inciting unrest, a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment. The activists' trial began Monday.
Aung Thein said the authorities could have taken action under the peaceful assembly act, which allows street protests if a permit is obtained.
Police last Thursday cracked down on protesters occupying part of the Letpadaung copper mine, which critics claim causes environmental and social damage. Dozens of protesters, including Buddhist monks, suffered burns caused by an incendiary riot-control device.

The Associated Press
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Blind China dissident urges Xi follow Myanmar path to reform

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BEIJING (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has urged Communist Party chief and president-in-waiting Xi Jinping to follow Myanmar's model of reform or risk a violent political transition.
Chen also accused the government of breaking a promise to investigate what he says is the persecution of his family, according to a recorded message posted on YouTube by Texas-based Christian advocacy group ChinaAid, which backs him.
The self-taught legal advocate's escape from house arrest in April and subsequent refuge in the U.S. Embassy was deeply embarrassing for China, and led to a diplomatic tussle between the two countries.
Chen was allowed to leave China and is studying in New York.
Chen said in the message released over the weekend that if Myanmar's President Thein Sein was able to release people like Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, then Xi should be able to release Chinese prisoners of conscience.
"Then Sein's open mind won him support from Myanmar's people and recognition from the world. Even Thein Sein can do it, yet Xi Jinping doesn't. Obviously it's not that Xi couldn't do it, but simply that he won't," Chen said.
Chen's nephew, Chen Kegui was given a three year three month jail term last week after being charged with using knives to fend off officials who burst into his home on April 27, the day after they discovered his uncle had escaped from 19 months of house arrest in eastern Shandong province and fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
"Because I fled the country, government officials have enacted revenge on my nephew Chen Kegui and others. Chen Kegui tried to defend our family, but he was arrested and is still in jail today," Chen Guangcheng said.
"There is no word that Communist Party rulers are willing to change and do the right thing," Chen added.
Addressing Xi, he said: "Whether you will follow the call of heaven and the people to carry out reform, or kidnap the government and maintain the power of the Communist Party is a matter of whether China will have the transition in a peaceful way or a violent way".
The U.S. State Department said it was deeply disturbed by Chen Kegui's sentence.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the United States had no business interfering in the issue.
"The Chen Kegui case is solely a Chinese domestic matter. China is country with rule of law ... The legal rights of this person and his family members have been effectively guaranteed," Hong told a daily news briefing.
"We are extremely dissatisfied that the relevant country rudely interfered in China's internal affairs. We most certainly do not accept it."
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Suu Kyi to lead Myanmar copper mine probe

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Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP
 
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will lead a probe into a crackdown on a protest against a Chinese-backed copper mine which will also assess the future of the contested project, the president's office said on Saturday.
The 30-strong non-parliamentary commission will investigate the "social and environmental issues" behind the protests -- which include allegations of mass evictions to make way for the mine.
The Nobel laureate has sought to mediate an end to the stand-off at the mine in Monywa, northern Myanmar, which saw scores of villagers and monks injured in the toughest clampdown on demonstrators since President Thein Sein's reform-minded government came to power last year.
Photographs of the protesters' injuries, which included severe burns, have stirred outcry across Myanmar, reminding the public of the brutal junta-era security tactics and the probe appears to recognise the depth of those concerns.
The commission will "investigate the truth" of the pre-dawn raid by riot police and assess whether the "copper mining project is being implemented in accord with international norms", a statement on the presidential office website, signed by Thein Sein, said late on Saturday.
It will also advise whether "to continue the copper mining project and whether to stop foreign investment", the statement said, without providing further details.
Activists are calling for work at the mine -- a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings -- to be suspended to allow impact studies amid allegations of mass evictions and pollution.
China insists that the contentious points had already been resolved, but the dispute echoes fierce opposition to a Chinese-backed mega-dam which saw Thein Sein order the scheme's suspension last year in response to public anger.
Suu Kyi visited the area and on Friday demanded an apology for monks hurt in the crackdown, after holding talks with both sides.
But the veteran dissident struck a conciliatory tone towards China and declined to back calls for an immediate halt to work on the mine.
In a renewed sign of growing anti-China sentiment around 50 people marched to the Chinese Embassy in Yangon on Saturday.
The presidential office statement followed an apology by police for injuring monks in their crackdown on protest camps on Thursday, an AFP reporter said Saturday, but tensions over the pre-dawn raid remained high.
A senior police official among around 100 officers told a group of 10 monks that "we are sorry for what happened and apologise", according to the AFP reporter at the scene, although it was unclear if the monks accepted the apology.
With many monks still being treated in hospital, Aye Net, a protest leader in Monywa, said anger was still raw towards the police despite the apology, telling AFP "I will never forget the scenes of their crackdown".

By Ye Aung Thu | AFP – 18 hours ago
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